The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-26
Sectional Issues.

| VI the hatred once eXlSLln8 DetWeen Ihe
| North and South, growing out of the war
and the long political contest preceding it,,
hardly a vestige remains. In this part of
the country at least it would be hard to
find a man who would not be ashamed TO
acknowledge that any part of it remained
! in him. On the frequent public occasions
when veterans of the old armies which OPP
| posed each other in the field have met, the
/ display of friendliness has been almost as
great as if they had been comrades Of one
army. This is all well and proper 1t in
dicates the state of feeling which really ex
lists, and is therefore honest.
At the reunion of the blue and gray
which took place last week at Evansville,
! Ind. the feeling manifested was the same
which has so often been shown when smaller
numbers of the old combatants met. The
men were no longer enemies but friends.
A number of distinguished officers of both
the Federal and Confederate armies were
present and letters were read from Others,
in reply to invitations to take part in the
reunion. Two of these letters, one from Gen.
Gordon and the other from Senator Cul-
lon, were printed in the last issue of the
MORNING News, and it is to the contrasting
sentiment of these letters that attention is
directed. Gen. Gordon writes in the hearty,
enthusiastic strain which is natural
to him. There is nothing, in his
esteem, so much to be desired as complete
reunion of the once warning elements, and
that they be welded together into "com-
mon brotherhood as sacred as truth and as
enduring as time"
Senator Cullom does not write in this
strain. He remembers that he is Repub-
lican office-holder, and that his party yet
relies'upon the old sectional feeling as the
main source of its strength He is careful
to use the term 'rebeln in his opening SEN
tence, when the managers of the reunion,
some of them as faithful Federal soldiers as
himself, had avoided doing SO. The men
to whom the epithet was applied
were probably not offended, because
it has SO long been misused that
it has lost its meaning The
Senator then goes on in a guarded and
qualified way to express his appreciation of
movements to make our nation a union of
hearts and of hands, as well as of States
provided it can be done without sacrificing
any principle for which the Union armies
fought, and with proper display of graft
tude toward Union veterans. Nobody can
object to the Senator's provisos Southern
people no longer believe they have right
to hold slaves, nor that their States can
secede from the Union for any cause They
know that these questions were settled ire
vocably by the war They are satisfied with
the settlement, and would not change it if
they could. So much for the principles for
which the Union soldiers fought.
As for gratitude to those soldiers,
it cannot be said that Southern people enter
tain any great amount of it. Really, it
can hardly be expected under the circum-
stances. But they do not cherish any en-
nifty toward them, and recognizing the
fact that great deal of gratitude and cash
were due them from the nation for the
thorough performance of very big job, in
lieu of the gratitude, they helped to vote
them the most liberal pensions the world
ever knew of The old soldiers were proba-
bly, satisfied with the cash. Being again
a part of the nation, ex Confederates were
willing to bear their share of its burdens
whether they got any of the benefits of the
money voted away or not.
In view of these facts il must be painful
to patriotic Republicans who really love
their whole country and not merely part
of it, to be forced by party exigencies to
maintain strained attitude of suspicion
and to be constantly making preparations
to beat off an enemy when there is no
enemy
The bitterness between the old combatants,
as has been said, has almost disappeared
but the Republicans, by diligent endeavors,
have kept alive enough suspicion
in the North of all things Southern
to be of very considerable influence on cleo
ton days. They have, however, been
obliged to pay heavy price for this ele-
ment of strength 1t has made their party in
ideas, as inlocality, a sectional party 1t can
be fairly said that when the average Re
publican says National he means Northern,
while in the mouth of Democrat the word
retains its proper meaning